In Science Class . . . Week of 12/5

This week, we'll begin talking about the Emerson Science Fair! Students will be able to work alone or in pairs to investigate a topic. Projects will be presented to the little kids during the day on Feb 2 and in the evening that same day. I will be available Tuesday afternoons after school in January for additional help. A packet of information will be coming home in English and Spanish this week. If you have questions, please don't hesitate to contact me. This is our first Science Fair since I've been at Emerson, so I suspect it will be a learning experience for all of us : )

In Science Class . . . Week of 12/5

This week in science, we acted like geologists and broke apart our fake rocks to see what "minerals" were inside. The students were able to identify several different ingredients, including red and green gravel, shells and some gray material. We then used water to see if we could separate the gray material. Key Questions:

• What is the difference between a rock and a mineral? (Minerals are the ingredients of rocks and are just one type of substance, while rocks are made of many types of minerals.)
• What types of "minerals" did you find in the "mock rock" Ms Jenkins made? (Most groups will find red and green gravel, shells, and gray material that we separated with water)
• What do geologists do? (They study rocks and make observations about the shape, size, texture, color, shininess, mass.)
• How are rocks and minerals used by humans? (We use them in various mixtures for roads, houses, jewelry, etc)